10 year olds more likely to be on disability benefits than 50 year olds

[AgeingMillennial]

AIBU to think this is absolutely baffling? And at some point we really have to investigate why so many young children are non verbal, have severe emotional regulation problems etc?

one of my 8 year old son’s friends came for a play date the other day. 4 hour. Nice kid well behaved etc etc. the mum came to pick him up and we were chatting. She tells me she can’t work because she’s this boys carer. I didn’t pry but was totally flummoxed. This was a totally normal child. So now I can absolutely believe 1/10.

That’s too late, the spike started in the mid 2010s. Most of them are age 8 and under at present

Im not. Its very rare to see a toddler sitting in a buggy/restaurant without a loud ipad right in front of them. This must screw them right up at such a young age. It might make the Parents lives easier but its definitely not helping their kids.

And some of those parents will be in their 50s….

I work in a primary school and have seen a significant increase in parents applying for DLA for children. For around half, it is children presenting with greater needs and absolutely allows parents to access equipment and activities that their children need or wouldn’t be able to access. But there was an another large group of children who have diagnosis or are awaiting diagnosis but only need minimal adaptations in school and parents apply. We don’t always find out if claims are successful but we know that lots are, I know of one family with 5 children in mainstream schools without much additional support and all 5 getting DLA. There is a growing culture of people using the system and I worry that the inevitable backlash will harm some vulnerable families who really do need this support.

Some of this will be due to the fact that lots of children qualify for DLA who won’t necessarily qualify for PIP when they become adults, so it’s no surprise that there are more children than 50 year olds claiming.

I’ve heard teachers of younger kids say they think about 10% of them will need care as adults, and this fits with what I’ve seen at my kids school and nursery. In each class there’s been at least 1 non verbal child and one or two more with mid level autism

That plus theres money to be made in benefits for a lot of children when the real problem is the parents.

How many of the kids at your school do you think will need care or supervision as adults do you think?

There are no statistics regarding disabled children.

Priceless.

I’d find some, if I could work out which ones we’re even looking for.

The spike in claims won’t necessarily match the spike in things happening.

Better information about benefits could also be behind the increase in claims.

For example I know two people who had disabled children who didn’t realise they could claim until it was publicised that David Cameron and his wife claimed it for their son. They had both assumed they earned too much.

The graphic says "source: Telegraph analysis of ONS and DWP data".

I would really like to see the data before they analysed it and how they have interpreted it.

Well said

I teach Reception and I’ve had at least one child a year who was non verbal. In the past they would have gone to a special school.

Yes this is what I hear a lot - so about 1 in 30 ?

Absolutely. There has been a flurry of benefit bashing threads this week. To start on disabled children is a new low, though.

So made up stats as suspected then, thank you for clarifying OP

But dont you see that too many claimants (at least some of whom do not need the support) will impact the disabled children who do?

So (whether the op is genuine or not) its an important topic

It’s crazy. Rules around diagnosis need to be tightened up - no more paying for a diagnosis. The only diagnosis that should be accepted is an NHS one. Also, no disability benefits for any child under 18.

No disability benefits for children?

Really? As you say, you did not pry, and the mother obviously did not divulge any more, than the fact that she is receiving disability benefits. So how do you know what she is getting them for, oh that's right, you don't. He could have anything going on, that you would have no idea about. So on the strength of meeting one child, you now believe the stats.

£710 million in Disability Living Allowance goes unclaimed each year.

No one is criticising disabled children. The OP is wondering why claimant stats indicate there are so many more than previously. That is a legitimate question.

You don’t have to be very disabled to qualify for benefits. My Family members daughter get it for possible ADHD. She’s bright and capable and in a mainstream secondary, all going well. When my family member applied for DLA, she was struggling as she was only about 6 and her parents were divorcing and she was in a new school who felt she had symptoms of ADHD. She’s doing much better now but she’s never been reassessed, my family member just says that nothing has changed when she is checked. High school has no concerns and there have never been a diagnosis. I don’t even think she’s ok the waiting list but I’m unsure. She’s 12 now.

so I think DLA is mostly given to those who desperately need it but also at times, to those who don’t need it quite so much and whose children don’t incur extra cost due to a possible disability. Many people will apply if they’re told they’re entitled to and are told to fill the initial form out as if every day is extreme when that may not be the case:

You're paying for an assessment

If no benefits for a disabled child what do parents do? I've got friends who are single parents and had to give up work because of their child's disabilities. How on earth do they pay for their child's disability costs?